COEUR d’ALENE — For the moment, the north has risen to the top of the state 5A girls soccer ranks.

In the first semifinal at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City High, Meaghan Bare connected in the fifth round of a penalty kick shootout to give the Lake City Timberwolves a 3-2 edge in kicks, and a 4-3 win on the scoreboard over the Timberline Wolves.

Kelsie Hedge of Post Falls scored on a breakaway in the 72nd minute as the Trojans defeated the Eagle Mustangs 2-0 to advance to the title match in their first appearance at the state tournament.

The two teams split regular season matches in the 5A Inland Empire League, with the Timberwolves (9-6-4) winning at Post Falls (13-6-0) on Aug. 30 and the Trojans winning the last two matches, at Lake City on Sept. 15 and in the regional title game in Post Falls on Oct. 9.

Today’s match will be at 2 p.m. at Coeur d’Alene High.

“It’s really special for both of us,” Post Falls coach Briggs Anderson said. “We know all the girls and the coaches know us. You really couldn’t ask for anything better.”

The last North Idaho team to win a state 5A girls title was Coeur d’Alene in 2006.

Lake City 4, Timberline 3, SO: After a slow start to the season, Lake City coach Matt Ruchti held a team meeting to try and get things restarted.

It has worked.

“It’s not something I usually do,” Ruchti said. “We just talked about finishing what we’d started on Aug. 7 and start putting in some hard work. We knew coming into this state tournament that we’d yet to play well, which is odd for a team to do that going into the final part of the season. I just said, ‘Why not us — why not now?’”

Friday was that time as Sydney Quimby, Natalie Wheelock and Bare connected in the shootout to put the Timberwolves into their first title match since 2000. Lake City is also seeking its first state title.

“We’ll take the same approach that we did today heading into tomorrow,” Ruchti said. “We expected to try and play well, but we never talked about qualifying and playing for a state championship. We knew we hadn’t played our best soccer yet, so that was our approach.”

Maddie Ward had two goals and an assist for Lake City.

“The past few weeks, we’ve talked about finishing the game and we pulled through and finished strong,” said Ward, a sophomore forward. “Tiegan (Horton) was amazing and Meaghan was great and pulled us through.”

Having the game at home — and playing in front of a large student section — helped keep them motivated according to Bare.

“I just knew my teammates needed me and we’ve pulled through before,” Bare said. “It was the best thing ever to have the student body out. They really motivated us to push harder and run after every ball.”

Timberline coach Ross Schultz declined comment after the match.

First half — 1, LC, Maddie Ward (Meaghan Bare), 2:38. 2, LC, Julia McCaw (Ward), 28:00. 3, TL, own goal, 39:00. Second half — 4, TL, 2 (unassisted), 44:17. 5, LC, Ward (unassisted), 45:45. 6, TL, 11 (unassisted), 75:55. First overtime — none. Second overtime — none.

Shots on goal — LC 9, TL 8.

Saves — LC, Tiegan Horton 5; TL, Hannah Griffin 4.

Post Falls 2, Eagle 0: Hedge’s goal was her team-leading 19th of the season for Post Falls.

“It’s just great,” said Hedge of playing for a state title. “It’s a really good opportunity for us for a first time at state.”

Of seeing their IEL rivals, Hedge expects an entertaining match. The teams have met three times this season, with Post Falls winning twice — including last week in the Region 1 title match.

“I think it’s good,” Hedge said. “They’ve beaten us and we’ve beaten them and it should be a good match. We just need to come out and give it all we’ve got.”

Madeline Roberts opened the scoring in the 16th minute for Post Falls.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Roberts said. “The wing is supposed to be there at the right time and it was just a really lucky shot.”

“It was just a beautiful game,” Anderson said. “It was purely just a great individual effort by Madeline to get that goal and Kelsie got a breakaway and put a shot away like she’s been doing for us all year long.”

Sam Runkle had eight saves as the Trojans have yet to allow a goal in regulation or overtime in the tournament.

“They’re a good team with a lot of good players with good speed,” Eagle coach Stephanie Fornander said. “It was a good match. Overall, we were very evenly matched, but we were a little unfortunate with our shots on goal.”

First half — 1, PF, Madeline Roberts (Erica Simpson), 16:01. Second half — 2, PF, Kelsie Hedge (unassisted), 72:00.

Shots on goal — Eag 10, PF 8.

Saves — Eag, Sierra Stone 8; PF, Sam Runkle 8.